Steve Cole, formerly a lieutenant and now a commander, was appointed head of the investigative division–in place of Jack Bisland– overseeing 16 investigators and 11 other people, including six school deputies, whose day-to-day duties will be overseen by Cpl. Don Apperson.

Cole’s appointment might have been routine in any other year. But the use of school resource officers is the leading issue for the Flagler County School Board in the wake of the Newtwon school shooting, and ahead of a Feb. 5 meeting on the school district’s revamped security plans.

A trio of school and sheriff’s officials described to the Palm Coast City Council the impact of six school deputies in Flagler County middle and high schools, but not without triggering questions about what “went wrong” to make the cops necessary on campus.